Panel on diversity says more talent must be made available

"The pipeline of diverse talent must be greatly increased.
... I don't know of any editor in the country that won't hire
good talent."

Quinn, speaking on a panel with young minority journalists
and diversity experts at the Newseum, said that when journalists
demonstrate that they are "able to cover the community ...
better because of the perspective they [bring], that success will
carry the numbers."

But editors still say they can't find high-quality journalists
of color, said Catalina Camia, president of Unity '99, a partnership
of minority journalism associations. "There has been a tremendous
drive over the past 20 years to get more qualified people of color
into the pipeline," she said. "Now, we're seeing 'diversity
fatigue' "  flagging efforts to increase minority representation.

Getting the proverbial foot in the door  an internship
 was "murder," said Rowena Millado, a 1999 Chips
Quinn scholar. She sent out countless resumes and applications,
but "I never got a rejection letter or even a call. I sent
[applications] to big newspapers, small newspapers, online organizations"
without so much as a nibble.

Finally, through a personal contact, Millado got an unpaid
internship at The Oakland Tribune. She worked another part-time
job to pay the bills, so for about three months, she worked seven
days a week.

Her hard work paid off, both for Millado and the newspaper.
"When I came to the newspaper, it was around the time of
the anniversary of Philippine independence. I knew there was a
large population of Filipinos in the area, so I wrote that story
and subsequent ones about other Asian-Americans."

Miranda Barnes-Walker, a 1996 Chips Quinn scholar who is a
copy editor at The City Paper in Baltimore, said she had
similar problems getting her first internship. When she couldn't
get an interview at mainstream newspapers, she called The City
Paper, which took her on for seven months as an unpaid intern.

At the end of her internship and her tenure as a Chips Quinn
scholar, "I knew I had the experience, I knew I was a good
writer and that I had something to bring to the table with diversity."

The Chips Quinn Memorial Scholarship Program for Minorities
in Journalism provides intensive orientation programs for young
journalists and places them in internships at newspapers across
the country. It was established to honor John C. "Chips"
Quinn Jr.'s commitment to greater newsroom diversity. He was editor
of the Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal when he died in a car accident
in 1990.

Being black on a nearly all-white staff sometimes put Barnes-Walker
in a unique position, she said. "You realize that if the
editor doesn't have anyone interested in reviewing [a black writer],
that (type of story) doesn't get covered."

She also occasionally pointed out questionable editing decisions.

"When I was an intern [another writer] had done a story
... that contained a racial joke quoted in the story. I went to
the editor, who was Asian, and said that doesn't seem right. She
said that she had hesitated but wasn't sure (if she should delete
it). I asked her how she would feel if it was a joke about Asians
... and she took it out."

But being a diverse voice can sometimes put you into a reporting
rut, Barnes-Walker said. "At one paper I kept getting all
the stories on the black community." Editors should "not
just look at you and say you can only cover the Hispanic community
because you're Hispanic."

While Walker, Millado and their colleagues work to increase
minority representation at newspapers, the next frontier is online
journalism, said Adam Clayton Powell III, The Freedom Forum's
vice president for technology and programs. The pioneers of online
Web operations were overwhelmingly white and male, Powell said,
and that pool is where online newsrooms are getting their talent.
As newspaper editors said a quarter century ago, online editors
are saying today that "it's hard to find minorities with
online experience," Powell said.

With efforts like the "National Time Out for Diversity,"
a joint program by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and
the Associated Press Managing Editors, in newsrooms across the
country this week, there's hope that news executives will overcome
their "diversity fatigue," Quinn said.

"When I hear the words 'diversity fatigue' it makes me
sick," Quinn said. "Saying we tried (to hire a more
diverse work force) and it didn't work is being irresponsible.
I wish they had gotten fatigue over Monica and O.J. and focused
more on their staffing."

The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan, international foundation
dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.
The foundation pursues its priorities through conferences, educational
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